How to make your own Pinterest clone

Once considered a site “just for women,” there’s no longer anything niche about Pinterest. Its userbase, 11 million strong, proves that the network has something for everyone.

However, that hasn’t stopped Fancy, Gentlemint, Pinspire, Pingram, and all these Asian clones from copying the image-sharing site’s style. Pinterest has found something lucrative, and everyone’s hoping to emulate that success.

Interested in creating your own “Pinterest for X?” We’re not sure about the legality of it, but one thing’s certain: it isn’t hard to do.

Here are a few ways aspiring Web moguls can duplicate the Pinterest style.

If you’ve got some money but not a lot of time, pinboard emulating software is your best bet.

Pinboarding Pro is available for $199.99. Available at Pinterest Clones, the development team assures buyers that it offers “the top pinterest cloning script on the web.” Judging by the Customer Showcase, Pinboarding Pro customers have been busy putting their purchases to good use. Now we can add “Pinterest for Internet memes” to the clone list.

For the less affordable price of $599.99, there’s Pinderfull, a competing clone script from the developers at Cogzidel. While this option costs more, the development team has a proven track record; they’ve also created clones of Groupon, Airbnb, and Dropbox.

For the person shooting for less “total ripoff” and more “gentle inspiration,” there’s also a selection of WordPress themes that borrow from Pinterest’s modular bulletin-board style while continuing to stand on their own.

WP Force has collected four of them priced from $0 to $39. For a little more, Evolutive is a minimalist take on the already minimalistic pinboard look. Just don’t try searching for “Pinterest” on Wordpress itself; the site appears to have banned the search term and comes up empty.

If software, themes, and DIY in general don’t cut it, there’s always the possibility of hiring a developer to do it for you. Freelancer.com is packed with requests for a coder to create a “site like in pinterest style” or “community like Pinterest.” On the flipside, if you’re a developer who has got an idea of how Pinterest ticks, now is your time to cash in.

Whatever you pick, remember to act fast. Already, the Web is becoming saturated with Pinterest lookalikes. Be sure to check VentureBeat’s board: There’s a Pinterest for that to make sure your idea isn’t already a reality.